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A fraud gang pretended to be a member of the Tai WaiFamous City"The owner of a housing estate sold his property and defrauded a deposit of 2.92 million yuan. One of the suspects involved was arrested after absconding for seven months! Earlier this year, scammers pretended to beFamous City"A unit owner used a forged ID card to open a bank account and signed a temporary sales contract. He successfully deceived the law firm and real estate agent, collected a deposit of 2.92 million yuan, and then disappeared. The Commercial Crime Investigation Department of the police targeted the suspect and started to investigate.Sham Shui PoA man involved in the case was arrested and efforts are being made to hunt down the remaining accomplices.
The whole story: a carefully designed scam
Identity cloning
Printing of imitation ID cards
Simultaneous change of bank account name (through the official name change procedure at the Immigration Department)
Transaction scenario construction
Price bait strategy: The asking price is 12% lower than the market price (the average square foot price of famous cities in the same period is 18,500 yuan)
Digital verification process: Use WhatsApp to send ID images throughout the process to avoid physical verification
Money Laundering Network
Change the name to the same as the owner's and deposit the check issued by the buyer
Use puppet accounts for multi-layer diversion
It is worth noting that the suspect in this case took advantage of the "priority registration" principle under Section 16A of the Land Registration Ordinance and completed the registration of the provisional sales agreement before the real owner noticed, which made the subsequent legal procedures extremely complicated.
A man who opened an account under a false name and defrauded money was finally arrested after absconding for seven months
The arrested man is surnamed Peng, 40 years old, claims to be unemployed and is said to have a drug habit. In the case, he pretended to be the owner of the property and opened a bank account to receive the deposit defrauded by his accomplices.
According to the case, Peng first obtained the name and other personal information of the owner of a unit in "Mingcheng", and then used this information to change the name on his ID card to the owner's name, and used it to open a bank account. After the incident, he changed the name on his ID card back to its original state. At the same time, his accomplices used the property owner's information to forge identity cards and produce fake leases and other building documents. In December last year, the fraudster listed the unit through a real estate agent and found a potential buyer. In February this year, they signed a provisional sales contract, collected a deposit of about HK$2.9 million, deposited it into a bank account opened by Peng, and then absconded with the money together. It was not until the real owner received the documents from the law firm that he realized the property had been sold under a false name.
Police ambush suspects in Sham Shui Po
The police received a report in February this year.Commercial Crime BureauAfter taking over the investigation, they quickly identified the man named Peng who opened the payment account. However, the suspect has been on the run for seven months and his whereabouts remain a mystery. The detectives learned that he had a close girlfriend, so they ambushed and monitored him in the Yee Kuk Street area of Sham Shui Po for several days. At 7 o'clock last night, Peng finally showed up to visit his girlfriend, and the detective immediately charged him with "Obtaining property by deception"and"Dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offenceHe was arrested on charges of money laundering and a small amount of drugs was seized from him. Currently, the police are still hunting for another accomplice who pretended to be the owner and contacted real estate agents and law firms.
Land Supervision Bureau urges agents to verify their identities
Estate Agents AuthorityIt had previously stated that it was not appropriate to comment on individual cases, but had reminded agents through practice circulars that they must carefully verify the identity of the seller. Before releasing the deposit to the seller, you should confirm that the seller is the same person as the owner or has the legal right to sell the property. You can also suggest that the buyer entrust the deposit to a law firm for escrow to reduce risks.
Citizens' line of defense: Individual strategies for protecting property rights
First level: Pre-check
- Use Integrated Search 2.0 (which can simultaneously compare rates, electricity, water and taxation records)
- Request for face-to-face identity verification (using the government's "Smart Access" instant authentication)
- Commission an independent surveyor to conduct a current status assessment
Second layer: Fund monitoring
- Use "staged escrow" payment (each stage is no more than 15% of the property value)
- Request a cashier's check instead of a personal check
- Set up a joint account (both the buyer and the seller must sign before the payment can be made)
The third layer: post-event recovery
- Immediately apply for a property injunction (to prevent changes in ownership)
- Start the insurance claim process (most title policies already cover fraud risk)
- Freeze the relevant assets through civil recovery orders
It is worth noting that the latest data from the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers shows that the proportion of people purchasing property insurance has increased from 18% in 2020 to 41% in 2023, and the claims success rate has reached 79%.
Joint supervision
- Establishment of a cross-departmental anti-property fraud task force (integrating the Police Force, the Monetary Authority, the Land Registry, etc.)
- Establish a high-risk transaction reporting system (similar to the FIU structure for anti-money laundering)
Industry self-regulation
- Implementing a tiered certification system for real estate agents
- Establish mandatory standards for digital authentication (such as requiring the use of a designated authentication app)
Civic Education
- Incorporate property rights protection into the general education curriculum of middle schools
- Established an online course on "Property Transaction Security Certification"
- Regularly publish reports on the evolution of fraud methods
Property Introduction
Famous City(English:Festival City)lie inHongkongNew TerritoriesShatinTai Wai,forMTR Tai Wai DepotThe northern part of the original site is a large private housing estate integrated development project.Tai Wai Cycle ParkThe southern part is the Hong Kong Driving School, formerly known asShiraishi Village. The famous cityKCRCIn November 2005, the project was called for expressions of interest and the following year the project was put out to tender (the tenderer could choose to tender for only one part of the development rights (Contract 1 for Phase 1 and 2, Contract 2 for Phase 3) or for both parts, with the latter being given priority).Cheung KongWin the bid for cooperative development.Merger of two railwaysAfter that, the property development rights were transferred toMTR Corporation. The project started construction in July 2007 and was completed in phases from 2010 to 2012. It provides a total of 4,264 residential units, all of which are large three- and four-bedroom units. It was jointly developed by Cheung Kong Holdings and MTR. The English name of the famous city is Festival City, which means enjoying a colorful urban life. As the estate is close to many universities, it attracts manyHong Kong DriftThere are many people who live there, and there are also many people who speak Mandarin.China-Hong Kong conflictHappens all the time.
